The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of her campus.
This article was written by student writers from the U Conn campus chapter.
Since I lived away from home during my first year of college, I missed out on the little pleasures. A warm greeting from your dog at the door, laughter with your best friend, being with your family, and sleeping comfortably in your big cozy bed. . However, I didn’t realize how much I loved cooking and baking when I was at home in the kitchen until my freshman year of college.
Once I moved out of the dorm and had access to a stove and oven, it became one of my favorite hobbies. I love home cooking, but I also love trying new recipes. Especially the ones from Sugar Spun Run. If you don’t know what Sugar Spun Run is, read Samantha Merritt’s baking blog.Samantha’s recipe was introduced People, BuzzFeed, TLC, Delish, Huffington Post, And now as I write this, her campus.
Without exaggeration, every recipe I’ve tried from her has always turned out to be perfect. She is the only person I can completely trust to follow new recipes that I have never done before. Benefits include both YouTube videos and written instructions to follow. Personally, I prefer videos that show you how to do everything step by step in a very simple way. But other than that, I always enjoy watching her because of her bubbly personality and how precise she is in the kitchen. She makes almost everything from scratch (even sourdough crackers!) and her recipes taste the same every time, which is a testament to the precisely tested instructions used in her perfected recipes.
Today I’d like to share all of the Sugar Spun Run recipes I’ve used. And I would like to give my honest opinion on all of them. That way you can try it yourself.
creamy chicken noodle soup
This chicken noodle soup is creamy, comforting, warm and delicious. It always tastes fresh when made on the stove and is perfect to make during winter cold and flu season. It’s one of my favorite comfort recipes and the heavy cream added to it makes it even more special. When I eat soup, I like to add some oyster character and pair it with Schweppes Ginger Ale (which helps smooth over the flu symptoms a bit). My family makes this almost every week, and when I get home from school, it’s definitely the first thing on my list to make. For me, it’s pure comfort in the bowl.
mediterranean lemon pasta
I come from an Italian family, so I’m picky about Italian food that isn’t made by my grandmother or mother. But this lemon pasta is amazing. Creamy Parmesan cheese is added to the tangy flavor of lemon. You can also eat pasta with chicken cutlet or fish. I used linguine this time, but you can also use your favorite pasta such as bucatini, cappellini, vermicelli, tagliatelle, etc.
raspberry thumbprint cookies
These are my favorite cookies I’ve made following this blog. They were also my dog Sophie’s favorite because she wouldn’t stop looking at me to get another bite, but she just likes sweets and likes to eat dog food. It’s easy to say that because it’s not.
Baking raspberry thumbprint cookies is great for the Christmas season, but they can also be made for any other party or occasion. It’s sweet and buttery, and the raspberry jam on top adds a fruity, refreshing flavor to the cookie. After the base is completed, roll the dough in the sugar, this part is optional if you follow the recipe, but it really helps add an extra sweetness to the cookies.
oreo balls
We’ve prepared these Oreo balls for Super Bowl, Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. Basically every holiday (if you count the Super Bowl). It’s a very simple but essential snack that I make and it always ends up being my favorite.
These Oreo balls are super easy to make and require just four simple ingredients: Oreos, cream cheese, vanilla extract, and a chocolate bar to freeze and then melt. I used Hershey’s chocolate bars because I think Hershey’s has a richer flavor and tastes best with Oreos rather than using melted chocolate candy.
It has a pleasant sweet and chocolatey taste, and if you don’t like the strong flavor of cream cheese, you can also taste Oreo in addition to vanilla extract.
My personal favorite thing about this is that you can decorate it for the holidays by simply dipping it in chocolate after it’s frozen. Then decorate it with a colorful frosting drizzle on top, but it’s up to you, so feel free to do so. I will! We’ve found countless ideas for holiday-themed Oreo ball designs on Pinterest, including Grinch, snowman, reindeer, bunny, and football shapes.
carrot cake with spices
This cake takes some time to prepare, but I believe it’s 100% worth the havoc in the kitchen. If you plan on making this, I recommend getting pre-shredded carrots as it will save you a lot of time and energy. The first time I made this, I used regular carrots that needed to be chopped, which took up a lot of my day. Therefore, it is better to get carrots already cut.
Besides this, the carrot cake straight out of the oven is exceptional. Her sister Olivia and I always bake this together at family gatherings and everyone compliments us on how delicious it is.
Spicy and cinnamon-flavored, it’s topped with sweet pecans, carrots, and sweet cream cheese frosting. Every time I take it out of the oven, it’s super moist and always tastes exactly like the first time I made it.
monkey bread
If you’ve never tried monkey bread at least once in your life, I highly recommend you give it a try. Monkey bread is a sticky, sweet, pastry-like treat consisting primarily of dough, cinnamon, butter, and sugar. This recipe from Sugar Spun Run was actually so easy that I was shocked. All you really need for this recipe are standard dry ingredients, including flour, sugar, baking powder, and cornstarch. In addition to cinnamon, milk and butter, this recipe will give you the sweet dough you desire. You can break it up and share it, so it’s also recommended when family and friends come over!
chocolate chip cookie bar
Sugar Spun Run Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are melty and perfectly flavored. If you love eating raw cookie dough (without the salmonella part), these are for you. It’s a bit like dough, but with a cooked taste. I recommend creating one that takes advantage of the best of both worlds. Also, you don’t have to shape them into cookie shapes; you can just put them in a mold and cut them out when you’re done.
homemade biscuits
I made these biscuits for Thanksgiving and I can say they turned out perfect, fresh, buttery, and warm golden brown.
I used to rely on good old Pillsbury biscuits that just needed a few minutes in the oven to eat, but now I’m all about making homemade biscuits straight out of the oven. This recipe from Sugar Spun Run was honestly a total game changer. I highly recommend using this recipe in place of the artificial dough biscuits purchased at your local grocery store.
In all, there are 10 of these recipes that I referenced for my Sugar Spun Run. Whether you need to cook something for a family gathering or just want to spend a little more time in the kitchen, we recommend one of these recipes. All of them are easy to make and taste delicious!
The moral of the story is that Sugar Spun Run is a blog I trust wholeheartedly, you can’t go wrong with any recipe you choose, and people will probably ask for the recipe.
All recipes are available online at Samantha Merrit’s Sugarspunrun.com.
